Any other RKII owners not happy with the clean channels?

[Tabs]

I know this might be a strange complaint considering the fact that the cleans in the RKII are supposed to be among Mesa's best ever, but I cannot for the life of me find settings that sound like what I want.

I'm playing an EBMM Petrucci 6 string into it with an Aphex Punch Factory compressor pedal before the amp. Ch 1 I have set on Tweed with a slightly dirty tone with 2X 6L6. Ch 2 is on Fat as a cleaner sound with 2X 6L6 as well.

My band plays moderately heavy alternative rock - I'm on Chs 3 and 4 most of the time, but we have some sections that are clean tones... No matter what I do, the thing always feels way too sensitive to me, like the tone just gets really "snappy", if that makes any sense. I got the compressor to try to smooth it out, and it does help a bit, but it's still really far from what I want it to sound like. It's really frustrating too because I know guys like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters use this amp and I think his cleans sound great.

When I'm doing clean arpeggiated type figures, it's just way too jumpy and not consistent. It'll break up quite a bit and jump in volume at the slightest harder pickstroke and I just generally think stuff sounds like crap through it compared to say demoing at home with my PODxt's cleans, which sound much smoother to me. (the distortion channels are a different story, the RK kills anything else I've heard and it's what I bought it based on)

It sounds better when I put the pickup selector in the out of phase middle position, but that type of sound doesn't really work with our music - it needs to be a bridge pickup sound.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[123thefirst]

You might be running the pre-amp too hot. Try backing the pre-amp output level way down until you can hardly hear anything and then up a notch. For some reason the Mesa pre-amp circuit is very, very touchy when set on the high side.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Is it a version 2? The tweed on the version 2 will actually break up with the gain set too high. I would get off the tweed. Other than that, it's the best clean channel I can imagine from any Mesa other than the LS.
I've gone through all three versions. The RK1 cleans were unimpressive and bland, The RK II and RK II v.2 cleans are awesome. The RK II v.2 has the same cleans with the added crunch on the tweed and a darker Brit on Channel 2.

 

[lactose]

I love the clean channels. The clean channels do seem to work better with my strat than my chambered headless. My friend brought over his jazz box to jam the other night, and picked up my strat , plugged into the RKII. He never pulled the jazzbox out of the case, he liked the tone so much.

 

[phantomlord2oo]

First off, I don't own a Road King (yet) but try this out.

It sounds like you may need some more head room. Try enabling all 4 6L6 tubes for channel 2 and that should hopefully elliminate the unwanted distortion.

+Mike+

 

[jbird]

Sometimes, tube amps, or moreso, a tube amp's clean tone, being more dynamic, and less compressed, will bring out the subleties in your playing/technique! These subleties, to some, can be your enemy! To some, these subtleties, along with other characteristics of tube amps, are a necessity! Learn and embrace these subleties as the litlle things that make your style your own!

 

[Machine Gun]

If I'm understanding correctly what you call an unwanted "snappy" sound, try backing off the volume on your guitar a little and play with your tone from there.

 

[noodles]

The treble knob acts like a second gain stage on the clean channels. I prefer to use the presence knob in lieu of treble. You'll still get a bright sound, but without the harsh spike when you strum a chord. Drop the mids way down, too, because it will take the spank out of your sound.

What kind of guitar/pickups are you using? I have a coil split that I use when I play clean--the lower output of single coil mode give me more sparkle and less spank, especially since my pickups are fairly hot.

 

[MetalMatt]

Do you have the reverb on? I found that it makes it more Snappy/Spanky. What are your settings anyways?

 

[konstantine3]

The treble knob acts like a second gain stage on the clean channels. I prefer to use the presence knob in lieu of treble. You'll still get a bright sound, but without the harsh spike when you strum a chord. Drop the mids way down, too, because it will take the spank out of your sound.

What kind of guitar/pickups are you using? I have a coil split that I use when I play clean--the lower output of single coil mode give me more sparkle and less spank, especially since my pickups are fairly hot.

Totally agree with this post, I use my presence all the way up and then tweak my treble around 12' to 3 O clock to get the sound I like.

I got a RKI.... so I dnt know about the RK2's probs

Great post noodles!!